Remnants of the Past
by manyissues101
Summary: Old foes, utilizing a new ally to recreate the past, try to steep Kingdom Hearts in darkness. All the while, our heros learn the secrets behind the Apprentices and their experiments. Can they find the enemy before it’s too late? SoKai RoxNam Ruuku
1. Life In Slow Motion

His muscles sprang to attention, knees locking and arm already out, the subconscious act of drawing his keyblade second nature now. All memories of sleep had been abandoned for survival mode; joints in his legs popped the moment he jumped out of bed, his blade whistling through the air with barely a streak of blurred colors in it's wake. Whatever had roused him from sleep, kick starting his warrior instinct, was to get a blade in the face—

--"Mew." His mother's cat had slipped through the door, no doubt looking for snack scraps littered on the floor. The oversized key barely phased her; instead, she rubbed against it and sauntered into the rest of the room.

Sora's sigh was comically theatrical. The years—the nights—he'd woke up to invisible threats, dark bodies on dark skies, had honed him. Countless times he'd pulled his keyblade out of thin air, not a moment too soon. Survival…it was a sixth sense. Sora thanked all of his lucky stars that his mother hadn't come into his room in the middle of the night yet—the idea of pulling the keyblade on his _mother_ made him want to wretch. There was only so much she'd be able to accept, after all.

At any rate, Sora's REMs were beginning to get to him. He doubted that these dreams really meant anything—or was that wishful thinking, remembering his last foreboding dream—but that didn't make them any better. He often awoke with chills, with the colors in his room blanching while his eyes adjusted, so much built up in his veins that he couldn't even think about staying still. There wasn't much you could do about insomnia; that was something his best friend taught him a day after they returned.

Black, he was surrounded by black of similar shapes and sizes, swarming him as if he stood in the center of a mob. He swung to the left, the right (stab, stab, turn, stab) and while his foes burst into former wisps of themselves, the numbers never dwindled. More heartless than he'd ever seen poured out of the woodwork. Magic struck around him, and the sound of steel slicing through air was too familiar.

A name, a shout, bubbled on his lips, but before he could really think about it, something snagged his leg. Sora pivoted and sank his keyblade down, piercing the cranium of the creature with whose claws he'd been recently acquainted. But that blow alone wasn't enough to vanquish it; Sora twisted and arched his arm in an underhand motion, stabbing at it. The heartless disappeared. These shadows were fast. And unnervingly durable. It took a special foe to withstand a direct blow from end of his keyblade. Something wasn't right here, a fact that Sora knew with no hesitation. He couldn't see a single one of his friends through the impenetrable wall of heartless, though he knew that they were around. His stomach dropped as one thought surfaced in his mind: he hoped that Riku had a good eye on Kairi. Because, when it came down to it, Riku was the only one that Sora would truly trust to protect the Princess, the only with whose protection he wouldn't constantly have to fret over. And the others, were they safe? Donald, Goofy, Ca—

Sora's eyes had fluttered closed of their own volition. His…dream? These strange dream/visions were getting to be too much. It was too detailed, too self-specific. It was…almost like a memory. But he was sure (as sure as someone whose temporal lobe had been recently tampered with) that he'd never even been in a similar situation. And that name in his mind, the one he'd been worried about—who was that? Ca…Ca…he was certain that no one he'd ever fought beside had this beginning name diction.

The Keyblade Master's silent reverie was broken by the companionship he'd been expecting. His oldest friend's footsteps padded behind him, and up beside him. Riku didn't bother to announce his presence; Sora would have, no doubt, heard him. And recognized his gait, for sure—no one else with good intentions came out this time of night/morning—for he'd yet to be impaled.

"What took so long?"

Riku took a seat beside Sora. "I had to sneak down the hall, past my mother's room, and out the front door. We can't all jump out of our windows."

A smile played on Sora's lips. "You won't get caught."

"Yeah, but I'd hate to wake her up when I get stuck trying to leave. Anything suspicious and she'd be pounding down the door in a minute."

Sora recognized a hint of affection coloring Riku's tone. He himself could easily picture Miss Kaito, Riku's mother, busting down the door to her son's room simply because she heard him loudly exhale in his sleep. After all, most of what she did was in an overzealous, over-passionate haze.

This he could say with a confidence, especially when comparing Kaito to his own mother. Lilly was a saint—unless you got her mad…or she was concentrated on something…or someone insulted her (however much impromptu) family. Okay, so maybe Sora didn't inherit her nose, or her penchant for all things culinary. But he knew how to hope—how to hope so hard that it became a force of its own.

"So…what did you want?"

Sora had approached his older friend earlier that day, requesting a late night audience by the shore. Sure, Riku had a good idea what such a meet was all about, but he wasn't about to touch on such a subject without Sora's confirmation.

"I can't sleep. And I can't sit around trying. I need to be out."

"I know what you mean. It's hard to sit around all day." Riku had found himself eager, twitching, to get up and do something. When everything in the past few years of your life warned against sitting still, the lazy days of Destiny Islands seemed a quaint sort of torture.

"I guess it'll come in handy…when we leave again."

Because neither could deny that their homecoming wouldn't be shortened. He knew, just as Riku did, that nothing could purge what they'd spent years trying to destroy. It was only a matter of time before it flared up again.

"You're right. I doubt we'll have time to adjust again."

"How long have you been thinking about that?"

He muttered an offhand, "A while," before collapsing back into the sand, the heels of his palms digging into his eyes. "We never know what's happening, right now, in the other worlds. We have to stay prepared."

"A good night's sleep is all I need..." Sora stifled a yawn. He could detect the faintest hues of orange beginning to rise from the ocean, gilding the skyline. "Or morning's sleep. Either way. Are your dreams like…too real?" He peeked over at his friend from the corner of his eye.

"No. Mine are different."

The older Keybearer blinked up at the sky. Of course his were real, too real, but there was no way they could be having the same dreams. Sora sighed. He knew that Riku, like himself, was being plagued every night. Nightmares were to be expected, of course. They'd come back from a life-altering tirade of murder, of kidnapping, of darkness swallowing you whole and seeping into your senses until it was who you were. They hadn't expected to sleep peacefully; even Kairi could be seen dozing in the middle of the day, having been up all night fretting over some dream.

Riku's nightmares were vicious. Tossing, turning, yelling, sweating, beating the mattress. He'd woken up, teeth gnashed and body bleeding from where he'd scratched himself violently. His mother had come in, the first time, and sank to her knees beside his bed, her damp cheek a worthy cooling cloth for his own. She'd set to wiping the blood from his face and neck with the corner of her nightgown, too worried to leave him alone long enough to fetch a rag. She opened the window to let a cool breeze in, to keep him from overheating. Riku's nightmares were of darkness, and Ansem, and feeling the heat as his heart burned fire, from the hatred he harbored, and he was flanked by his own dark bodyguard. That's why, now, he tried not to sleep.

"Do you think there's anything we can do about it?" Sora asked, feeling the sea breeze cool on his face. He inhaled; the famillar scent could purge his recollection of the heavy, magic-filled air, the smoky, dark heartless remains.

"I doubt it," Riku replied, sitting to avoid sleep, bluntly, grinding his knuckles into the sand. "It's just something we'll have to deal with."

_"You're mine, Riku. Not matter what you'd like to think. In the end, you always need my darkness."_

_He ignored the growling inside his head, keeping his eyes wide on the nothing in front of him. Voices in one's head might mean insanity, in some's case. In his...it meant that his mind was as strong as ever. Strong enough to be Ansem's prime target, to keep him sated deep within Riku's psyche. _

_"Riku. Serve me, Riku. Be me. You are me." He could feel dark tendrils, like lips, whispering around his ear. When the voice subsided into low chuckling, Riku snapped. _

_"Arghhhhhhhh!" He roared and lept forward, keyblade in hand, ripping the very air to smithereens. The chuckling grew loader, now in stereo on both sides of his head, and it was very hard to resist the urge to chop his own head off, to release the Heartless straight from his brain, and thus his dead heart. _

_"Darkness doesn't end in death, Riku," he chided. "I would know."_

"We can't tell Kairi," Sora added, a part of the unspoken agreement. The one that wasn't even thought about, just _there_, a consequence of meeting on the beach in the wee hours of whatever day it was. Kairi would worry, lose more sleep of her own, trying to help. Little good she'd do, and no one would benefit from any of that. Not that she didn't realize their predicament. She'd called them on it, when Sora would doze off on her couch, or when she spied some kind of bruise Riku had left from beating up on himself. Not that they ever admitted anything to her, no need when she already knew, and though they might not know how much she truly saw through their tired eyes, they knew that she did. "She worries enough already."

Riku looked over at him. "I'm not going to baby her. But, you're right, she doesn't need to worry about this."

They knew that Kairi would get angry at them for talking about her that way, but they knew that their psyches would never be the same again—why did she have to suffer? Besides, she seemed to bring out a protective side in the both of them.

"What are we gonna do when we leave? Kairi's not going to want to stay behind."

"Let's worry about that later. I'm too tired to _think_." He hadn't had a real good night's sleep in years. "The sun is rising; we should get back anyway."

Sora sprang up and offered out a hand to Riku, who shook his head and pushed it aside, rising on his own. The more work he did the easier it would be to stay awake, and then when he did pass out, exhaustion would be so great, hopefully, that he wouldn't be able to dream. But he had a sinking feeling that his nightmares were more than normal dreams, rather, that they were invoked.

The two young men made their way slowly up to the point where shore became ville, sand became dirt. Riku's house was farther down than Sora's; momentarily they lingered outside the latter's door.

"I'll see you in a few hours?"

"If I'm not dead yet. No, my mom would probably still drag me over."

Sora smiled; they referred to a tradition that had just sort of popped up over the years. Every first Saturday morning of the month, his mother would make the most delicious breakfast anyone ever could, and Riku and Miss Kaito, and Kairi and her own mother would show up at their door to help them polish it off. The mayor had joined them too, occasionally, but normally he was too busy.

As Sora turned onto his home's walkway, and Riku kept walking to his own, he paused and looked in the direction of his friend. "Sweet dreams," he said, only sort of joking.

Riku snorted. "Goodnight Sora."

0----0

Kairi slowly ran her hairbrush through the tangled curtain of her hair; ever since she'd grown it out, brushing had been a hassle. She suspected it had more to do with the tossing and turning than the length, but that wasn't the point. A few crimson strands fell to the rug below her bare feet, but Kairi didn't bother with them.

A dress was already hanging over her bedpost. She slid the brush across the vanity table and removed her nightgown. The open window didn't phase her—a room in the back of a house atop a hill wasn't easy to spy into, and the breeze from the breakers was as cleansing as any shower.

"Kairi?" Her father's knuckles rapped the wood of her door. Even though it was still closed, she wrapped her arms around her chest in surprise.

"Don't come in—I'm getting dressed!"

"I just wanted to tell you that I'm leaving for the mainland and that your mother is waiting for you downstairs. Alright?"

"Yes sir. Have a nice trip."

He didn't respond, as Kairi could hear his footsteps already on the stairs. She loved the poor man, so unsure how to be her father. It wasn't that he didn't love her…but Kairi was here because his wife wanted, and couldn't have, children. As a father he was _still_ rusty.

Giving her hair one last tug, Kairi's feet found, and slipped into, her shoes. Makeup, hairstyling, outfit coordinating—she'd save it for other girls with nothing else to worry about. There wasn't time to paint on your face when you were wondering if it would be the last time you'd see your room. The darkness could strike at the most inopportune times, she knew that for a fact.

Sure enough, by the time Kairi had made her way down that maze of spiral stairs, Mie was tapping her foot, a tad impatiently. One of her mother's less endearing qualities. She turned to look at her daughter, a small frown playing on her lips. "Did you brush your hair?"

Kairi nodded off her concern. "If we get there late, Sora will eat all the food."

That made Mie smile. Though at the time of the disappearance she'd blamed the boys, they were still practically her own, and she'd apologized to Lilly and Kaito instantly. "If he's up before one."

As they headed out the door, Kairi didn't bother to correct her mother on Sora's sleeping patterns. The less she knew about the things that plagued them the better; Mie was probably the least understanding of all the parents.

By the time they'd made their way down the hill to Sora's house, the smell of Lilly's cooking was wafting through the air. Kairi felt her stomach do little leaps in hungry anticipation--Lilly's cooking had gone absent with her son. Knocking was for strangers, so she and Mie opened the door without a second thought. Already sitting around the rickety table were Sora and Riku, plates of food stacked between them. Kaito, who, for good reasons they kept secret from her, wasn't allowed to help in Lilly's kitchen, was arranging the cuisine, carrying more dishes over. She was a jack-of-all-trades employee at the island's bar/restaurant, and pilling hot plates on her arm had become second-nature. Kairi offered help, but Kaito waved her off and nodded towards an empty chair. Though her back was turned, Lilly voiced Kaito's idea, "We're not going to let the three of you do anything. You need to eat and relax. Understand?"

She turned for a moment, blue eyes appraising each of the teens, who didn't have a word to say. Arguing with Lilly was a pointless conflict. So, when Mie placed a plate in front of each of them, they dug in without a word. Sora was making a mess from the moment he picked up his fork while Riku, though his appetite was the same, was a lot less rambunctious about it. Kairi paused a moment to admire them, her boys, her family, and caught Lilly's eyes. The mother grinned at Kairi and gestured and the table. Kairi returned the smile and carefully began pilling her plate. It was the kind of deja vu that she welcomed.

It was the kind of moment that, for the most part, could push the darkness out of their minds. Sure, Riku still felt those little pangs in his heart--it was Ansem, reminding Riku that he was still there with the equivalent of a kick to the gut--, and Sora felt himself tense at every clang of the silverware. It would take a little getting used to, Saturday morning feasts and the ever-watching eyes of their mothers. But it was a familiar feeling.

Sitting amongst one another, the pale island sun streaking through the open windows, well, it felt like home.

0----0

Welcome to my new story of all stories. Yes, I'm actually going to start a multi-chaptered fic. And I'm actually going to finish it! You read that right. I already know how the whole thing is going to play out, and then end. I once thought that such a feat from myself was impossible. Especially without a beta.

The families are ripped straight from my other fic, Motherhood, and it's companion The Potatoes Versus the Toilet. Neither need to be read to understand any of this, but it would be helpful. The mothers will be making quite the appearance here.

The first chapter is conspicuously woven with plot, so look out for future references to this. Scenes in italics are either dreams or flashbacks, but I'll touch more on that later. So get ready for this things, because Remnants is going to touch on the past of some of our familiar characters, introduce some new ones (No Mary Sues/Gary Stus, I promise you. Seriously.), and reintroduce some old foes. I've pretty much fried my brain for this thing, so I'd love for you to give it a chance. No joke. I was talking to my dad about it on a road trip:

Dad: We're about to pass the big baseball thing. Don't you remember?

Me: Um…no. Not at all.

Dad: What's wrong with your memory? We've driven around here plenty of times.

Me: You see this thing I'm writing? I've sold my soul for it. All that's left now are my writing muse and my right hand.

So drop me a review, no? I love_need_ your input.

Oh, and I don't own Kingdom Hearts. Just Lilly, Kaito, and Mie. But I love them so much that it makes it almost okay. And the chapter title is from one of the songs on my writing playlist—my absolute favorite--so I don't own that either.


	2. Don't Tell Me The Worst Is Over Now

A trip out to the island was what they really needed after breakfast. Not just to clear their heads, to get some alone time, but just in case their mothers decided that they really _did_ want help with the dishes. So they each settled into their boats, it was comical to see Riku try and climb into his; he'd grown over a foot, and rowed over with ease. Before, it had taken at least five minutes to make the trip between the islands; it only took them two, now. Each fastened their boat to the dock like only a true island kid could, like those who'd had countless canoes drift away while they toiled the day away, playing in the sand.

They hadn't been here since their return a week or so previous. It was quiet. And exactly the same. A chill pressed down Riku's spine; it was like a ghost town, even every piece of wood was weathered in the exact same manner of in his memories. It was…too good to be true.

None needed to speak. Each had their own destination in mind, and gravitated there. Sora to the Secret Place, Riku to the gnarled tree on which he'd watched over their island, and Kairi…Kairi wanted to see if the raft was still there.

She'd not been on the island the whole time they were gone. It seemed a sort of betrayal, to the boy she couldn't remember, that cut her deep. Wakka, Tidus, and Selphie had, but they always preferred to stay on one side—much more room for blitzing and sparring. Could that rickety little thing, full of splinters, have survived the storm, nestled in the coconut grove? It wasn't very likely. But she still had to see.

There, squeezed between the trees, were a few scraps of wood. The bits that hadn't blown away had stuck on the trees, burying various supplies beneath them. Kairi squatted, sifting through the small wooden planks, pulling out a tattered white sheet—it had come from Sora's linen closet—and a few shards of clear glass. She remembered sneaking the glass jar out of her kitchen cabinets, running out the door so that her mother wouldn't catch her.

How naïve they had been, to think they could penetrate the world borders with a measly wooden raft. Kairi doubted it would even be big enough to stretch her legs across now. She untangled a glass shard from the ends of frazzled rope and pocketed it. There was no reason _why_, but she did anyway. She straightened her back and legs, intent on returning back to her friends. Until a glint of light caught her eye. Kairi slipped her shoes off, wading out to where the sea met cliff. Against the stone was a bottle, caught in the waves. She picked it out of water, turning it over in her hands. Glass, with a cork, and a letter inside. The parchment sported a seal, a familiar one. Kairi leapt back for shore, and into her shoes, sprinting for the other side of the island. Riku and Sora had to see this.

King Mickey had sent them a letter.

0----0

Dear friends--

Recently, a visitor appeared in my castle. She requests something quite...unique, and while I hate to disrupt your lives, I need your input. If it weren't such an odd, urgent situation, I wouldn't bother you. But...we'll arrive by Gummi shortly. See you soon.

--Mickey

Riku and Sora exchanged a small glance (less, really, just a roll of the pupil in each other's direction). They'd been expecting this, after all. What they hadn't expected was for Kairi to find the note, therefore knowing all about it and demand accompaniment.

"All he wants is _input_," she reasoned. "I can help with that. Besides, it doesn't say to leave me behind."

"I doesn't actually say for you to be going, either," Riku pointed out. Kairi crossed her arms and looked up at him. "You can't leave me all the time! I'm as much a part of this as the two of you."

"It could be dangerous, Kairi. Anything attacking us would start with you--" Sora began, but Kairi held up a finger.

"Okay, fine. On the off-chance that both you and Riku leave me alone during danger, no one around us can fight, _and _I can't just run away--then I'll use my keyblade." A satisfied smirk settled upon her lips.

Riku shook his head and Sora buried his face in his palm. Kairi sighed. "I'm serious! This is non-negotiable. I won't be left behind again."

"Kairi, we don't _like_ leaving you behind. It just..." Sora fished for an ending.

"It makes us worry less," Riku supplied. Kairi's arms wrapped around her chest.

"But _I _worry. And don't pretend you don't need me, because I know you both do." She had them there. Her light...it calmed the dark beast trying to gnaw through Riku's heart, and Sora...well, she strengthened him. Not that it made him keen to her tagging along. It was Riku that gave the permission, in the end.

"But you have to promise, if there is danger--"

"I'll do everything you say." Kairi held up one pinkie. "I promise. I just don't want to sit back and wait anymore." She turned to Sora--things were settled, but she still needed his acceptance. "Please, Sora?"

"...Okay. But you have to be careful, Kairi."

"I know. I didn't survive getting kidnapped because I'm useless, you know."

Sora's lips twitched into a smile. "I know." It was the kind of smile she was noticing more and more lately, the one that would warm his cheeks and make his eyes, though not lacking their usual shine, dim, in a way. It made her glance down, lest her own cheeks catch fire.

0----0

"Should we tell anyone?"

Riku brought up a good point, during that night's meet on the beach. The same question had been plaguing Sora for hours. On the plus side, warning the adults of their departure would save them a lot of worry. The problem was…would they let them go if they knew?

"I was gonna ask you," Sora admitted sheepishly.

"I don't think my mother would be able to take it, if I just left again. Ever since…well, she just doesn't like being alone." Riku paused, the subject of the death of the fathers they'd never known a silent tie between them. "I think Lilly would understand, too. Just not Miss Mie, or the mayor."

Sora couldn't argue with that. "Mom told me that she and Kaito were treated like dirt. And not just by the mayor."

"Can you blame them? Sure, we did everything we could to save Kairi, but from the outside…it really looks like our fault."

Sora felt a little uneasy, thinking about Kairi's heart loss as _his fault_. "I guess…as long as we know what really happened, right?"

"Right."

The moon was an opal, hanging pregnant in the sky, casting everything in an ethereal light. The ghostly beams seemed to cut the ocean in half, the sky gem reflected back in it's shimmering waters as cylindrical. It was like the dark beach all over again, with less a sense of dread.

"Did we do the right thing?"

Riku's icy eyes appraised Sora carefully. "Of course you did the right thing. What are you questioning?"

It wasn't that Sora didn't notice Riku's non-inclusion of himself in that statement, but that was a subject for later. "Well don't you ever wonder if things could have gone a different way? A lot of people got killed by the heartless."

"And a lot less, thanks to you."

"You too," Sora insisted. Riku shook his head, but his friend just pressed on. "I'm serious! If it wasn't for you, I probably would have never woken up. I don't think I ever thanked you for that."

"I didn't do it so you'd thank me, Sora. I owed you anyway. It was the least I could do."

It was Sora's turn to shake his head. "You don't owe me anything. If you'd stop dwelling on it, it wouldn't be such a problem."

"I don't want to talk about this," Riku interjected harshly.

"Fine. We won't talk about it." They sat in silence for a few moments. "But, you know—"

"Sora!" Riku growled.

"What?" Up he held his hands, innocently.

"Drop it," he hissed.

"If you say so."

A whole minute went by. "I mean, it's not like you—"

Riku made a show of getting off, striding angrily back to his house. Sora was laughing heartily. "C'mon, Riku! I was just kidding! Don't get mad!" In hysterics, Sora ran to catch up with his older friend. When Riku shot him a glare, it only made Sora double over, trying to catch his breath.

"You know, Riku, sometimes you've just got to let go of stuff. Stop worrying and just move on. It's all water under the bridge."

"Everything I ever did—"

"Was for us. We know that."

"But I—"

Sora smiled one of his 'I'm-so-cute-when-I-look-dumb' smiles. "Saved us both, in the end. So don't worry about it."

Riku stood still, contemplating this for a moment while Sora smiled up at him. "Yeah. I guess you're right."

"See? Things happened, but it doesn't matter in the end. Everything's okay now."

"Not everything," Riku chided him. "Something about that letter…he sounded nervous, Sora. Something's not right."

"Yeah, I got that feeling too. But he would have told us if it was real bad, right?"

"I hope so."

"Me too."

0----0

"When will they be arriving?"

Mickey turned his head in the direction of the hesitant voice, belonging to the young woman standing in the library's doorway. Her hand rested on the frame, nails tapping to no particular rhythm.

"I'm going to get them in the next few days. We have to give them time to prepare."

"Right. Sorry, I'm just…" She exhaled. "I've just been waiting a long time for this. I want to know what happened to make him so…"

Mickey approached her, patting her knee. "We all want to know, Carrah. What could make a person turn from the light like that? I knew him before, you know. He was smart, eager. My colleague's greatest treasure, his most talented apprentice."

A smile puckered up her lips. "Yeah…that sounds like my little brother."

0----0

For those of you who are somewhat well versed on the standing of my health, my last doctor's visit was the 31st, where they cut my cast and pulled those pesky pins (the ones holding the bones together as they healed the way they should have in the first place) out, while barely giving me a chance to pop an oxycodone. The two four inchers in the top were barely and issue, all he did was twist them and they fell out. The holes bled. Okay, I can do that. But the almost 7in pin in the bottom, the one that went all the way into my Tibia, was a different story. My pill took effect, or else I would have been screaming, but instead I settled for scratching the crap out of my forehead as I covered my eyes and panting like I was going into labor. And, on the down low, I got to keep the giant pin. The very best part: my new cast is purple. I can see/wash my toes. The cast is lighter. It doesn't hurt anymore. I'm free in two weeks, I'll just have to walk with an AFO, and I did it with two for a few years, so that's no problem. It'll be off by my school time! There are so many things to choose from. Not that you guys care about this, like, at all (save, maybe, a handful that I actually talk to), but I thought I'd let you know that my drugs are coming to an end. Maybe my writing will change...

Next Time on Remnants:

Riku and Sora discussing leaving and women with their mothers.

Some Sora and Kairi moments!

Mickey arrives!

Gah, I can't wait. That chapter has been killing me slowly.

Still don't own 'em. Which is probably for the best.


	3. This Is The Way That I Say I Need You

Riku knew his mother was over-fond of sleeping in on Sundays, the only day that she had the entirety of off, so it surprised him to see her in the kitchen that morning, hovering anxiously over the toaster; the smell of burnt toast, of course, did not surprise him.

"You're up early. For a Sunday," he remarked, descending the stairs. Kaito half turned, strands of her silver hair falling messily out of its bun.

"Oh? Yeah, I guess. I was just thinking about breakfast at Lilly's yesterday, and how it would be nice to cook you something for once, instead of making you settle for potato chips and leftover pizza."

"I like leftover pizza," he reminded her, coming to rest at the kitchen table. The toast popped out of its heated, metal confines. When glancing at it's charred, black crust, Kaito scowled.

"What'd the bread do to you?" Riku asked as Kaito plopped it onto a plate and, sliding it to the middle of the table, sat across from him.

"Well, first I put it in and it didn't toast enough. Another round, and…well, eat up."

"I don't care that you can't cook, you know."

"I know…I just thought it'd be a nice touch." She used the nail of her index finger to scrape some of the black off of the toast top. "So why are you down here, anyway? Shouldn't you be faking sleep, pretending that you didn't sneak out last night? Don't seem so surprised—you never give me enough credit. So tell me: what's on your mind? Is it those nightmares you won't tell me about? Or maybe something you did that you haven't 'fessed up to yet?" Kaito's eyes stole a moment to glitter, her eyebrows arching. "Or is it a girl? I bet it's a girl!" She shoved the toast aside and clasped her hands together, leaning her elbows on the tabletop. "You can talk to me, you know. What's she like? What's her name?"

Riku groaned. That was one conversation he wouldn't be having with _anyone_. "Mom, that's not it. It's actually really serious."

Kaito straightened her back and stretched out her arms. "I can do serious."

"Well, Sora, Kairi, and I got a letter today—" yesterday, he mentally berated himself, the lack of sleep screwing with his timetables—"from King Mickey. He said that he really wanted our 'input' on some stuff, and that he'd be here soon to get us. It shouldn't take more than a week, at most." That was possibly, probably, a lie, but if she didn't deserve a little sugar coating, then he didn't know who did.

Kaito's darker, emerald eyes bore into his own. "So you're leaving again."

"I don't have a choice."

The silence was broken by her sudden escape from her chair, as she picked up the plate and dropped it nosily onto the counter, her hands shaking.

"I don't know if I can let you do that, Riku."

He shook his head. "I'm not asking you. I'm telling you."

"Oh. Is that where we're at? You're telling me things now. Well how about I—"

"Don't get so mad. I didn't _have_ to say anything."

His tone cut through her, and Kaito hung her head. "You're right. You didn't. I'm sorry for…look, I just want to know why?"

"Why what?" She could be asking a million things.

"Why you left. Is it because I can't make toast? Or that I don't separate the colors and the whites? Or because of that whole baby pet turtle incident because, I swear to god, Riku, I didn't mean to vacuum it up!"

A light chuckle fell from his lips. "No. It's not because any of that."

"Then why?"

Riku shifted uncomfortably. These were things she didn't talk about. "Because I was tired. I thought that everything was mundane and simplistic, when it was really just me. I thought that I was much too good for any of this, when it was really the other way around. I wanted to know things that didn't have answers. There was too much here that I couldn't account for—it made me sick."

"And now?"

"I wish I had never left."

Kaito stepped forward, more than one step, really, and laid one hand on his shoulder. "Well try to be a little more careful this time. Just because I understand why you're going doesn't mean that I have to like it. In fact, I think it gives me basis to hate it even more."

"So you're okay with this?"

"Not at all," she laughed weakly. "But it's not my life to live. What else can I do?"

0----0

"So why isn't Riku home?" It wasn't that Sora didn't enjoy Kairi sans company, but Riku's presence had been so constant in the last week that being without it was a tad unsettling.

"I stopped by his house, actually, but I heard him talking to Miss Kaito, so I figured I'd give them a little time to talk. Is he telling her about the letter?'

"I think so." Sora hung his feet off the dock they were currently sitting on, the toes of his shoes splitting the water.

"What do you think she'll say?"

He shrugs. "Miss Kaito? Who knows?"

Kairi giggled. It was true, their best friend's mother was a tad eccentrically unpredictable, but lovable all the same. One might see she and her son as personality foils, but they were essentially the same, just with Riku as the serious (mostly), meticulous version.

"Are you going to tell your mom?"

"I kind of think I have to. I don't want her getting upset when I disappear."

"I bet she'd appreciate that."

Silence. Kairi spoke.

"Hey Sora?" Her tone had changed, that was the first thing that he noticed.

"Uh, yeah?" He peeked over at her. Her enchanting eyes held a serious glaze.

"Why exactly don't you want me to come?"

"I want you to come, Kairi, I just don't want you to get hurt," he reasoned. A light smile played with the corner of her lips.

"But how could I get hurt with you around, Mr. Keyblade Master?" She tapped his cheek. "I trust you with my heart." It was the equivalent of I-Trust-You-With-My-Life, just with better perks. Sora smiled. "What are those people who protect the Princesses?"

"Knights?"

"Yeah! That's what I'll be."

Kairi grinned. "I don't want you to be a knight. Just be Sora, that's good enough for me."

"Oh…well, that could be a little challenging…" He mirrored her expression and folded his arms behind his head. "I'm not sure I could be someone so cool." He puffed out his chest a little bit. Kairi doubled over in laughter, falling over onto the sand. The expression on is face…it was priceless.

"Don't laugh at me," he chuckled, poking her in the side. Kairi smiled.

"I'm not ticklish, you know. But you can keep trying if you want." An idea nestled in her head, and her fingers found the tender spot under his ribcage. Sora began to squirm.

"Kairi! Stop it, that's not funny!"

"Then why are you laughing?"

Their ticklish antics had them rolling along the sand, giggling, shrieking. Soon it turned into a wrestling match, which Sora was winning with a quarter of his strength. He had Kairi's slight body pinned beneath him, his face hovering close to hers, matching smiles splitting their faces.

"I win."

Kairi, in attempt to throw him off, lunged upward, just about the same time that Sora's hands slipped and he fell downwards a bit. Their lips met, and the shock paralyzed the both of them. Sora felt the heat rising in his cheeks, and Kairi's heart beating rapidly against his chest, an echo of his own. His eyes were closed, and he wasn't about to open them. There was too much running through his head.

Did she do it on purpose?

Should he have pulled away by now?

Why was her heart beating so fast?

…was she expecting him to actually do something?

"Mmph…Sora…"

Kairi's lips moving against his was enough to send his heart into rapid overdrive. He was starting to get dizzy…possibly because he hadn't been breathing. Without thinking, his lips reciprocated, moving by themselves, and he suddenly felt as if he was watching, rather than participating. She tasted like…Kairi. That was the simplest way to put it.

When the need to partake of oxygen was so overwhelming that it couldn't be ignored (on Kairi's part—Sora could forsake breathing for kissing her if need be) Sora rested his head next to hers, unwilling to look her in the face. He wasn't crushing her under his weight, so, for the moment, he felt no need to move.

Kairi's touch, feather-light, tickled the back of his neck. "Sora?"

"Mmh?"

Daringly, her lips found the bare-skin behind his ear lobe and he gasped, caught off-guard, giving Kairi ample opportunity to change their position. She now hung above him, suspended off of her hands. "I win."

He flushed again and Kairi laughed, sitting and pulling him up into a hug.

"I was actually trying to tell you I couldn't breath…" It was her turn to blush. "But I'm okay now."

"Yeah. Me too."

0----0

"Sora? Is that you?"

He'd tried shutting the door quietly--well, maybe tried was the wrong word. But he'd definitely thought about it after hearing the crack of the wood. The faster he could sneak upstairs, the better. "Yeah, Mom, it's me."

He stuck his head in the living room, where his mother was curled on the couch, a book in hand. She was looking over the back at him. "Are you staying in tonight, or should I leave the door unlocked for you?"

Sora paused, sheepishly scratching the back of his neck. Busted. She didn't look angry, at any rate. "I guess I could use the door...how did you find out?"

Lilly laid the tome aside, rising slowly from the couch and padding over to him. "Kaito called," she mentioned casually. "She told me that Riku's been up and out, and figured you were probably in on it."

"We were just talking!" He explained, defensively.

"Oh. So you aren't planning on leaving again?"

"Miss Kaito didn't tell you that too, did she?"

Lilly raised an eyebrow. "No. Kaito didn't say a thing about it. _Are_ you leaving again?"

"Well, uh, the King sent us this letter, and..." Sora raised his blue eyes to hers. "I _have_ to go, Mom. I don't really know what's going on, but I don't think he would have bothered us if it wasn't important. 'Sides, I just want to be here. I'll come back as soon as I can."

He held her gaze for a few moments. It was the 'I'm-your-mother-trying-to-decide-what-to-do-with-you' look, the kind he often got after bringing home crabs and keeping them in the bathtub, or when his salty wet clothes didn't quite make it to the hamper. It was a disappointed, angry, and torturous look all in one--he was sure she did it just to spite him.

"Go to bed, Sora. No sneaking out, no pretending--go to bed. You need your rest."

"Uh, yeah. Goodnight." He took the stairs a few at a time, trying to dart upstairs. But halfway up to the landing, his mother called after him.

"Sora? You look a little red? Did something happen at the beach? You went to go meet Riku and Kairi, right?"

"Uh, yeah. I must have been in the sun a little too long. I didn't even notice." Cursing himself and his inability to think of anything _but _this afternoon, he escaped upstairs before she could comment. Of course, there was nothing but Kairi on his mind, but he wasn't about to admit it to his mother. He could only imagine her response--and it wasn't something he was looking forward to. She'd be thrilled. Over the moon. So beyond happy that he'd get to see a smile cracking her face open. And, then, she'd be all over the situation--questions, _advice_, observations. He'd be happy to keep her out of that part of his life for at least a little while.

Sora collapsed back onto his bed, his head filled with images of a young girl with the most _amazing_ lips he'd ever seen. What he wouldn't give to taste them again...

For the first time in a long time, in years, Sora's dreams hadn't a single shade of dark in them. Just Kairi.

0----0

_Bars of some substance, dark steel, marred her vision like angry pillars the sky had shot down to keep her in place. Just a dream, Kairi, just a dream, she chided herself. That's all it was, to be sure, but nightmares had never plagued her before, and came on like a sudden wave of nausea. She was caged, trapped, again, with no method to escape. _

_Before her, there was a battle raging. Keyblades sparking as they met the ground, having torn the heartless to shreds, with enough force to knock their bearers off their feet. Kairi could scream all she wanted, but all she was ever able to do was watch, to wait, like destiny was calling her ineffectual and using all it's tools to reinforce it. Kairi growled; was she really going to let them do this alone? Again? She was a Keybearer, for heaven's sake, and she wasn't useless! _

_"Let me out!" she shrieked, and she could feel the light--like bubbles brushing the skin, like toes sinking into wet sand--coming off of her, like a circumference she was creating. The bars went concave, snapping, and Kairi squeezed between two, never bothering to stop._

_"Sora! Riku!" She looked wildly around, but the darkness was tangible here, the very air. It was as if the world had been covered in a thick cover of smog, but the poison a more deadly kind. Darkness, shooting its way down her trachea, made Kairi gag and heave, a dab of bile smudged at the corner of her lips. The air was killing her._

_"Riku? Sora?" She was weaker now, her knees cracking against the ground. "Anybody?"_

_Somewhere--her eyes weren't cooperating, blurred and useless--a girl was screaming. But it wasn't her, wasn't Kairi, whose lungs were protesting the murky dark oxygen present here, and any second they were going to stop working--_

Gasping for breath was an understatement, as Kairi shot awake, he sudden plummet into a sitting position enough to knock her off the bed and onto the unforgiving wood below. Her gasps were heart-wrenching, and her tear ducts were going haywire. Never, in her life, had she known what it felt like to die, to drown.

"_Oh_," she let out a shaky breath, bringing her fist up to her mouth, biting down on her knuckles. She felt up on her bed, pushing herself into a standing position, instantly needing the mattress to relieve her trembling knees.

_Just a nightmare. Just a nightmare._ But she was dizzy with the force of it, unlike the scary dreams she'd had when she was a child, about fields of flowers wilting, about monsters under the bed. There was something different, something sinister...and it was haunting her.

And whatever it was, she was sure it hadn't happened yet.

0----0

"Hey, Riku, I haven't seen you all day! Where've you been?" Sora approached him lazily, shielding his eyes from the pastel sun. Their island was still as scenic as ever.

Riku nodded behind him, at the opening to their little cave, their Secret Place. Sora was surprised he even still fit.

"I wanted to look at the door. It hasn't changed."

"Yeah, I'm sure no one's messed around there in years." At Riku's sudden smirk, Sora cocked his head. He knew that look. "What?"

"Actually, someone's been drawing in there. Since we left, I mean."

"Oh...more blitzball diagrams?"

"Nah, it's a little more...personal."

"What, did Selphie put hearts around Tidus's name again?"

Riku frowned. "Go check it out yourself. But first--where's Kairi?"

Sora's head dropped; he was trying to hide the involuntary blush that lit his cheeks. "I don't know. I haven't seen her either."

Riku's smirk returned as he discerned Sora's reaction. "Couldn't find either of us? You couldn't have been looking that hard."

"Yeah, I guess not."

Riku shook his head, laughing to himself as he passed Sora. "Just go check it out, okay?"

"Okay." Sora wasn't sure what new drawing could be that important, or what Riku found so amusing, but he still slid his way past the branches and through the cramped tunnel. Had they really been that _short_?

Everything looked the same as he remembered, every childish scribble, every anatomically incorrect doodle. From tic-tac-toe to he and Kairi's ridiculous renditions...wait. Hold up. Was that...

Who knew that an etching on a cave wall could say, "I love you"? Sora ran his fingers over it, praying that it wouldn't fade away under his touch. Either Riku was playing a really, really mean joke on him, or Kairi...Kairi...

"Sora? Are you in here?"

He turned to see Kairi making her way in. She spotted him squatting by the drawings and her voice faltered. "Sora..."

He stood, smiling, emotions bubbling up out of him. "Kairi, I..." He glanced over at the etching, and back to her, where she stood much closer than before. Close enough to touch, for she rested a porcelain hand on his arm.

"You don't have to say anything."

So, he didn't. Besides, his lips became a little preoccupied...

0----0

This chapter originally had more, but I was at 11 pages and still wasn't done, so I decided to split it, partly for the sake of getting the previous chapter up. It's been written..._forever_, and was killing me very very slowly. I can't write Mickey. I just can't do it. But I _have to_, which might delay the next chapter getting up. As you probably know, I don't post new chapters until I have the one after it already finished. It helps me to pace myself. And I _love_ Riku talking with Kaito. You'll get to see more of that, I pinkie promise!

And I got my cast off Friday! I have to walk with an orthotic, and still need the support of my walker, but I'm in love with the changes they made to my hereditary defected foot! And my orthotic is so cool looking! ^^


	4. As Long As I'm Never Alone

Riku was unsure how they'd all managed to agree to meet that night without actually agreeing to it. Somehow, the trio ended up lounging on the beach, awake to say farewell to the sun, a few meager belongings packed, like some kind of subliminal message had been broadcasted. It was something that they had felt, a beacon to their hearts by whatever out there was in control of this whole screwy game. Well, if fate was in league with their hearts, this was bound to be easy. It was almost as if it had been this way the entire time; Riku, the true keybearer, with a transfixing need to see other worlds; Sora, sprinting into the Secret Place just in time to capture Kairi's heart; Kairi, seeing Sora in those eerie yellow eyes.

And now, each knew that they were to meet the King here. It required little explanation.

Critically, Riku noticed the way Kairi was hunched over, trying to hide a yawn in her shoulder, the way that Sora kept sending the slightest of glances to her, and then turning away, instantly. He wondered if they could read him the same way, watch what troubled him in his eyes.

_It left almost as painfully as it had come on, like the top layer of his skin being peeled off, getting picked at and ripped until there was nothing left but new. It left air to be desired, and he gasped, feeling chilled and stripped. He was weak, useless, like he'd forgotten how to sustain control over his muscles. Nothing worked the way it had before; he was in pieces..._

"The King is here," Sora exclaimed, pointing up. Riku's eyes followed. Surely enough, the sky seemed to ripple--there was no ship in sight, but something had just passed through the world's now-pliable border.

Riku stood and offered Kairi a hand; Sora was doing the same, and she let them pull her up completely, exerting no force. Riku held her wrist a moment, to make sure she wouldn't sway. He hadn't seen her at all that day; he suspected that she and Sora had found one another, and wondered why she was so tired--was she not getting enough sleep? "Let's go."

0----0

The gummi was overcrowded, barely built for two--the King claimed that it was the fastest they had.

"Do we need to be somewhere?" Riku asked, lounging against one of the walls. Mickey shook his head.

"Not really. I'll explain everything when we get there, promise!"

And with that, he refused to answer anymore of their questions. Riku and Sora exchanged critical glances; that meant nothing could be too urgent, right? But why was he being so secretive?

Sora just shook off all concern and leaned lazily against the back of his seat. Riku could obsess about it all he wanted, but if the King didn't want them to know, then there wasn't much they could do about it. He leaned towards Kairi to give her a reassuring smile--but she was busy staring out of the little porthole windows. Right, she'd never been in a gummi before. Nor had Riku, for that matter, but he was much cooler about stealing little glances out to space. Riku and Kairi were probably getting full realization of how a trip on a raft was completely unfeasible. He watched the expanse pass before them, and wondered why he was feeling so strange.

Something was bothering Sora, something he couldn't quite place, however. Some twisting of his gut, dropping of his stomach. The scene was wrong, off. He tried to ignore it, because everyone else seemed as happy as they'd been upon boarding. But it was nagging in the back of his brain.

The ship must have been fast, as their arrival at Disney Castle seemed to take minutes. Riku and Kairi watched as they descended upon the world, while Sora just loafed in his seat. It was kind of relaxing to be the knowledgeable one for a change. Mickey parked and hopped out, silently, and Riku was close behind. Sora waited for Kairi, who was lingering, looking around.

"Cool, isn't it?"

She turned to him and grinned. "I was just thinking about all the times you'd done something like this."

"Usually in a bigger ship. With more heartless--that's it!"

The girl before him cocked her head. "Sora? What's it?"

"There were no heartless ships! We always had to fight them off, but there weren't any this time."

"Well of course not. You took care of that, remember?" Kairi raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I guess. It was just a little...weird."

Kairi followed Sora out of the gummi. She hadn't been sure what Disney Castle would be like, Sora was the only one who'd been there, and she hadn't had the time to ask him. Of course, the idea of having a one-on-one conversation with him made her stomach do flip-flops. She wondered if he was feeling the same. Sora was sure, marching ahead of the both of them, she and Riku, and following King Mickey out into the garden. It was so _pretty_, the topiary and the colors perfectly arranged.

"I'm going to get Donald and Goofy, and then our...guest. You guys can look around. I'll meet you in the Library?" Mickey directed his comment at Sora, who actually knew where it was. Sora nodded once, and they watched the mouse king walk off.

"It's very peaceful here," Kairi remarked, turning to examine the scenery before her. "Unlike the rest of the worlds I've been to."

"They should _all_ be like this now. Hopefully." Riku looked over his friends. "Who do you think this guest is?"

Sora shrugged. "No one we know, or he would've told us."

"More royalty?" Kairi guessed. Riku shook his head.

"I don't think so. It's a woman--that was in the letter, remember?--and she wants something from us, something weird. There's something really off going on here."

"I'm sure it's nothing," Sora reasoned. "If there was danger we would already know, and everything is fine here. There's no reason to worry about it--the King will tell us when he's ready to."

"Yeah, I guess." Riku turned to Kairi, looking her seriously in the eyes, taking gentle hold of her shoulder. "Be careful. Until we know what's going on..."

Kairi rolled her eyes and knocked his hand off. "I wasn't planning on ditching you guys anyway. You two are always so worried about me; one of these days I'm going to be the one to save you."

"How're you gonna do that?" Sora spoke up, grinning. Kairi spun around, her hands on her hips.

"Are you saying I'm not as brave as you are? I've killed heartless too!"

Sora was beginning to grow nervous now, as Kairi stared up at him, her eyes hard set. He backed up a little bit. "I know! I just...I just..." Luckily, Riku was there to save him from Kairi's wrath.

"Let him go, Kai. If you kill him now, we'll miss the meeting." Amusement was playing in his eyes.

Kairi simply crossed her arms, sticking her tongue out at Sora. He straightened up, until Kairi jammed a finger into his chest. "I'm not weak. Okay?"

"Yes Ma'am!"

Riku rolled his eyes and strolled to the hangar's exit. He'd let them have their little alone time--even if they didn't know they wanted it. But there was something going on between them, and he wasn't going to let it become a big distraction--they'd have to work it out now. As much as he'd once vied for Kairi's attention, her intimate affection was the least of his concerns anymore. Not since...shaking his head, he banished the thought. Twilight Town, it's inhabitants, they were nothing but a memory now.

0----0

Sora was giving her a tour of what he knew of the castle. Riku, in true Riku fashion, had wandered off somewhere with no warning or word. Kairi was charmed by the quaint, tranquil little castle, happy to know that at least some of the worlds were peaceful.

"How many other places have you been to?"

Sora looked up thoughtfully, as they strolled comfortably through the castle corridors. "A whole bunch. Let's see..." He began mumbling to himself, ticking off his fingers. Kairi watched. "About twenty."

"Wow...and you saved them all?"

He flushed a bit. "I didn't do all the work. All part of the life for a Keyblade Master."

"Well, the keyblade's lucky to have you," she laughed. "You're doing a good job."

Sora grinned at her. "And you make a pretty good princess."

Kairi gave a little curtsy. "Why thank you, brave sir." Her accent was marred by laughter trying to bust through.

"No problem." A trademark Sora smile was enough to break her facade. Kairi looped her arm in his.

"This is really great, you know. Being able to be here. With you."

"Well, you were right before. We couldn't just leave you behind."

Kairi stopped, effectively pulling Sora back a step. He looked quizzically over at her; the redhead stood still, with her eyes on him. "Kairi?"

"Sora, will you promise me something?"

His head bobbed enthusiastically. "Yeah, of course."

Her gaze fell to the ground. "Promise me that you'll try to stay safe."

"Kairi, I don't go out looking for danger," he commented. After a brief second, Sora added, "I'm not Riku."

That prompted a smile to spread across her face. "I'm probably being silly. I know you can take care of yourself."

"Nah, I'd worry to." Sora tugged her towards him. "C'mon, I'll give you the grand tour."

Shaking all worries straight out of her head, Kairi followed him. If he could pretend everything would be all right, then she could pretend to believe him.

0----0

Please excuse the lateness of everything I've written (and the length)--between my appointments, going back to school in a wheelchair, and another personal tragedy, I've had to shove writing on the back burner. Where it does not belong. It's not a good excuse--I hate excuses--but it's the truth.

This chapter is dedicated to Russ, who gave really good hugs when I was fighting with my best friends, and who found the strength to do something most of us wouldn't be able to. For that I commend you, even if your choice was an unspeakable one. I hope Heaven is all you ever dreamed it would be.

PS. If you know me, you can probably figure out what one major pairing will be, even without the hints in this chapter, or the note in the summary.


	5. Hard To Explain I'll Try If You Let Me

"Riku, Sora, Kairi--I'd like you to meet Carrah. She's requested something...interesting, that I believe will help us substantially, to increase our knowledge of the events of the last decade."

Sora blinked. Oh right; sometimes it was hard to believe that this intergalactic conflict had been occurring long before they'd been sucked into it. He wondered how they'd done so well without a Keyblade Master for so long. Beside him, Riku wasn't trying to hide his stare at the girl. But the King's trust of her seemed to be slowly ebbing at his suspicions. Sora rolled his eyes--though Riku would never see it--at his lifelong friend. He was on edge, even though it would take a mere sidelong glance at Carrah to tell you that she was no threat, if the slightness of her arms and her slacked posture were any indication. She nodded at them, whispering, "It's nice to meet you."

"You'd better sit. It's a long story," Mickey suggested, hopping onto his desk. "With Carrah's cooperation, we've learned a lot about the Nobodies." All looked at Carrah; she was glancing shyly down at her lap. She looked normal enough, not that you could always tell. She certainly wasn't wearing a black cloak, Sora mused. With this closer look at her, he squinted. She seemed...familiar, somehow. Her eyes darted up quickly, feeling their stares. "I have a heart." She looked over at Mickey, a pleading in her eyes. He nodded.

"Have you ever wondered about how Nobodies have such a hold over what powers they posses?" He directed the question at the three bearers in front of him. Each stared back expectantly until he continued. "It seems to be a bit more than random selection."

"We knew that, right? Roxas had a keyblade," Kairi interjected.

"Roxas wielded a keyblade because Sora did, yes--Namine was linked to Sora's memories because of her strange beginning. None of the other Nobodies were around long enough, or were willing enough, to give full recounts of their creations. And then Carrah found me." He smiled at her; she was shirking from the limelight.

"She said that she has a heart," Riku recanted.

"Now she does. It was a lucky coincidence that her 'death' gave her the ability to regain her heart. Carrah? Perhaps you could best explain it?"

She opened her mouth, a protest, to be sure, but the King held up one gloved finger. "They're the only ones who can help you. You'll have to trust them. And it would probably be best to start from the beginning."

"The beginning of what?" Sora's impatience was beginning to show; he was staring intently at Carrah the King; the latter looked away.

"You four are going to help uncover information about Ansem's apprentices. There's so much I would have loved to ask my dear friend, but now I'm afraid that much of that knowledge is lost to us. Carrah has agreed to help."

"I really just want to know what happened to my brother. But I'll assist in any way I can."

"Who's your brother?" Kairi asked. Carrah made brief eye contact.

"Not who he pretended to be," she sighed.

0----0

_My brother and I had been sent to the Market--we'd eaten the last crumbs from the pantry, and our mother was helping our father try and sell the little trinkets he made. We lived on the edge of the Radiant Garden slums, right between the drunks that downed whatever they made, shouting conspiracy theories to the cobblestones and the middle class families with enough yard to have themselves a flower garden. Thaneor--my brother--and I were teenagers at the time, and if we walked the streets as if we knew where we were going, no one usually bothered us. But you always had to watch out for the occasional pickpockets, working on only the busiest of allies so that by the time you'd realized your munny had been liberated, you'd been bumped into thrice over. It was especially crowded that morning, for the king had announced that his most trusted advisor--he ruled, in all reality, using our king as his puppet and not a mind knew different--Ansem the Wise had been taking in several men, young and old, for an apprenticeship. Some sort of scientifical nonsense, that none of the gossip specified--the old biddies were too simple-minded to understand it, to be sure. Thaneor and I pushed our way through the throngs of screeching women, all come out to hear and tell, only catching snippets of names. It was of little importance to me, but Thaneor paused every now and then. He longed, more than anything, to be of utmost importance. An advisor to the King, a scientist, a warrior--something. I could tell that he wished to have been chosen for apprenticeship. Not that Ansem the Wise had ever ventured down to the Edge (as we called our neighborhood, in those days) or ever fancied to._

_I pulled gently on his arm, towards the day-old fruit stands; it was much cheaper, and as long as you finished it by that eve, there was no harm done. But we were getting pushed and shoved from every direction, and it didn't take me long to lose track of him. I didn't think much of it at the time; he knew his way back home, and seeing as I was the one with the munny pouch, there wasn't much for him to do but find me or return. Maybe I'd flick a 1 munny gem at one of the grubby homeless boys to get him to help me carry the groceries. But I didn't seem him in the Market at all that day, even at lunch time when the crowd began to slowly disperse. Nor was he at home, and my parents both denied seeing him. The eve quickly passed, and by the time the moon had peeked out from behind the castle, Mother began to worry._

_I know what happened to my brother next, but I'm still unsure of how he got there. We looked for him--Father closed the jewelry stand that Sunday and combed the streets for my either injured, kidnapped, or refuge brother--all into the next month, but there wasn't a sign of him. The old woman next door yapped about how Ansem the Wise had chosen a final young man to learn underneath him--Xenor, Xeanot, something like that--I remember hearing, but I was too busing grieving to care in the slightest. _

_I didn't see him for months, not until the night we lost our world. The Heartless started to devour our world from the inside out, multiplying from the castle. Few made it into the slums before they had what they wanted, but the Edge was crawling with them. I wriggled my way out of the back window and into the alleyway, losing my shoes against the windowsill. I was cringing as I trod through trash and grime alike, and from every shadow seemed to raise one. I was hardly three doors down before they had me. _

_No one really knows why a Nobody arises. Is it because of a strong heart? Or is it only present in those with innate desires, unfulfilled in life, that burn so strong that the mind can't truly be snuffed out? Either way, I was one of the unlucky few that were reborn that night, in Hollow Bastion. The flowers, a staple of what my world was, that made it a beautiful, clean paradise, had long since died out. About the time that the experiments on the heart began, I'd wager. The heartless have a way of making everything fade. Some hardworking man had begun to print a town newspaper, and boasted that 'the bastion had become as grimy as it's people, as hollow as it's ruler. The name stuck._

_Somehow, I awoke to find myself in front of the castle. It was strange and dizzying logic, and I hadn't yet even found out what I was. All I knew was that a part of me felt strangely empty; not lighter, mind you, but like I had become less of the me I was. It doesn't make much sense, I know. But those are the only words I could find to pin on it. I found myself not caring, as I strode through the town. Almost all was empty now, free of people and heartless alike. Death or escape were the only viable options. And then there were those, like me--or, rather, unlike me. They'd made their choice, sold their heart. I'd hung on like a stubborn child. _

_I barely recognized one of the men before me--he had his back to me, surveying the damage, I gathered. Soft chuckles were hatched from his lips, and somehow I didn't care. I felt no aversion to this man, cackling at the destruction. I was about to call out to him as he turned around, his eyes settling on mine, and I could barely recognize him. But there was something in him--it wasn't in his now-malicious eyes, or the arrogant smirk of his lips--that I'd seen before, in the face of my baby brother. Maybe the curve of his nose, or the position of his cheekbones--I can't be sure. But I was absolutely sure that the young man I'd mourned, I'd called for until my throat turned raw, was standing, in some form or another, before me. _

_I turned and walked away. _

0----0

"I've read all of the reports on the subject, studied the timeline...I believe that Ansem the Wise found my brother--he'd been beaten, mugged, something--and was persuaded to take him in. It was something Than had always been good at, talking others into things, somewhat troublesome things, like filching a paper from the stand on the corner, or bumping into a food stand and letting things fall into your pockets. But I'd thought evil was beyond him; apparently I was wrong. Thaneor would have done anything to secure a position in the castle, be it by a lie or not. He must have changed his name to Xenahort to stay undetected."

"But what about you? I thought you had a heart?" All three--though Riku was trying to hide it--were leaning closer to her now, intent in the story. Mildly flushing, Carrah leaned back into the seat.

"When one loses their heart, their aging stops. Years ago, I lost mine. It was then that I discovered my new ability, the one that all Nobodies apparently gain when they change from a normal human. I have a sort of sway over...history, over time. I can change things."

"Didn't someone in the Organization manipulate time?" Sora interrupted, cocking his head.

"I didn't associate with them," she replied, her tone clipped. "I didn't even know they existed, really. And I can't do certain things--like actually _stop_ time or anything--but I can take people back into the past. It's complicated; I've only done it twice. It's how I regained my heart."

"How'd you do that?" Kairi asked, sympathetically.

"Well, when I use my ability, you don't physically go into the past. Your heart goes, so it's like a projection of yourself. That was you can't interfere, unless you're really trying to. As a Nobody, my whole being left to go back, since it's all I was. It was all a fluke, really, and I was able to reunite with myself, before I lost my heart. Honestly, I was hoping I'd die. But, when I realized that I still had control over my powers, I came back to the present."

"Carrah would be taking the three of you with her. Your bodies will stay here the whole time, dormant, but your consciousness will be taken with Carrah. You're merely to observe, not to change," Mickey added. "As much as you might want to, the past must be left the same."

"When are we going?" Kairi spoke up. Sora shot an uneasy glance over at Riku, who rolled his eyes back. The last thing he wanted was Kairi in danger, but the way Sora hovered protectively over seemed a little dramatic at times. As long as they didn't interfere, there wouldn't be a problem.

Carrah glanced at Mickey for a response. He nodded, and she spoke, "Tomorrow, if you wish it. I wouldn't mind. The transition takes a lot out of you, though, so you'd all best get a good night's sleep."

The King gave each of them a knowing, almost parental look. "If you don't have any questions for Carrah, I could show you each to your rooms. Tomorrow is nothing to worry over; I just thought you'd each like to be a part of it."

No one said anything until Carrah shuffled forward. "I'm going to rest now, if you'll excuse me. Goodnight." With a head nod in four directions, she padded gently out of the library, quietly closing the door behind her.

"What do you think?"

"Her story seems a little odd," Riku cautioned. "Do we know she isn't lying?"

"There's a familial resemblance, if that will put you at ease. I believe she's being completely truthful.

"She seems nice enough," Kairi quickly interjected. "Kind of quiet."

"Carrah has been struggling with the decision of coming forward for some time now; she's been afraid of ridicule. It's all a bit difficult for her to accept, even now."

"Why bring us into this at all? You could have just gone with her, right?" Riku inquired. "Or is there more to it?"

Mickey hesitated, looking thoughtfully at each of them. "There are several more...benefits to having the three of you along. I hoped that Carrah would feel more comfortable, for one. Also...Kairi, have you learned anything about the truth of your childhood? Who you were?"

"I...I lived in the castle...right? My grandmother was there, I think. But that's about it." Something passed over her face, and Sora reached over to pat her shoulder. Her lips turned up a bit at the corner.

"The elderly woman that I think you're talking about...she wasn't your actual grandmother. A nanny would be a better term."

Kairi chuckled a little. "That's weird. Why would I have a nanny?"

"I'm surprised you haven't figured it out. You are a Princess of Heart, after all."

"But we weren't all _real_ Princesses." Kairi paused, her mouth sucking in a gasp of breath, her eyes widened in surprise. "Were we?" she followed up with a whisper. The King nodded a tiny bit.

"As Carrah said, the King of Radiant Garden was more of a placeholder than anything. But you seem to be one of the lucky few to have survived getting pulled through the darkness. You reappeared on Destiny Islands, I believe."

Kairi was trying to form sentences, her words all jumbling together. Sora wanted to jump up and help her; she looked on the verge of an anxiety attack. It wasn't every day that you learned that you were born a princess, who survived an onset of darkness that took down practically a whole kingdom, especially as a young child. "I...I washed up, on the shore by the docks. Miss Kaito and Miss Lilly...they found me...they were taking a walk..." She pressed a hand to her mouth, all of the cogs in her brain turning the same way. "_Oh_. A princess...I always though the title was a little...but a real princess? And my parents...."

"The royal family perished in the attack."

Kairi stood mutely for a few more seconds before murmuring, "I think I'm ready for bed now."

Considerately, the King agreed, and Riku and Sora followed them out.

0----0

Kairi's mind was reeling. Yes, she'd known that she was a Princess of Heart. Yes, she'd known that she spent her toddler years living in a castle. But...Alice wasn't a Princess, right? And plenty of people had to have lived there too, like maids and cooks and such. Not that being royalty was even the biggest part--the most monumental of all of this was that, before any of this had gotten out of hand, her father had to approve these heart experiments. Placeholder or not, he was the king. And when the darkness came for them, she must have been sucked up, just as Sora had been. Dropped in the sea of Destiny Islands, lucky enough to waft up to shore. None of this made sense anymore, and suddenly, Kairi felt the overwhelming longing for home, the urge to kick and scream and cry until she was in her mother's arms--the woman who'd reared her--and it all made sense again.

She lay down to sleep, hoping that none of this would matter so much in the morning's light.

_Water rushed up her throat, as it bubbled out of her mouth, propelled by violent coughs. The sun beat ruthlessly against her eyelids, and Kairi had no desire to open her eyes, not even after she was suddenly bathed in shade, and quiet, worried voices sounded above her. _

_"Is she okay, Kaito?" _

_"I...I think she's waking up. Baby? Will you wake up for us, darling?" The voice was lovely; coaxing her into consciousness with a tender edge that she'd heard somewhere before...who spoke to her like that? She couldn't recall. _

_Something blocking the sun from her eyes, she slowly opened them, squinting as faces came into focus before her. A name simmered to her lips. Where was her mother? Was she one of these kindly women, one smiling kindly down at her, the other gently wiping the salt water from her face? Why couldn't she remember? _

_"Let's take her to Mie's, Lil. It's closest; Thomas will want to have a look at her, as well." The woman speaking turned her sparkling green eyes back to Kairi. "I'm Kaito, and this is my friend Lilly. What's your name, sweetheart?"_

_Her name...someone, a nameless, faceless woman, used to turn each corner of bookshelves, following giggles across the green carpet. "Kairi?" she'd call. "Kairi, dear, where are you?" _

_"Kairi," she squeaked, choking the last bit of salt from her lungs. Lilly dabbed at the corners of her mouth again. _

_"Alright, Kairi. You're all wet; how about we take you to our friend's house so that you can get a bath, and dry off? And then a good meal?"_

_"Yes please." _

_"Such a scrawny little thing," Kaito murmured, lifting the frail girl into her arms, resting Kairi's head in her neck, like one would carry a toddler. "She's so light, Lilly. Make her something good." Getting her back patted was rather soothing, and it was giving Kairi a chance to try and clear her fuzzy mind, to make sense of the memories that greeted her from the insides of her eyelids. Being carried and then lain on a soft couch was less of a memory than a blur of unconnected sentences. _

_"Mrs. Tilmitt's got a good eye on the boys, right?"_

_"I think so. They should be fine there for a few hours."_

_"Oh, what a pretty little thing? What do you think happened to her?"_

_"She isn't from here; we'd know."_

"Then where could she have come from?"

"That hardly matters, Thomas. She can stay with us until we sort this all out. Come on, we aren't using the bedroom on the top floor at all; it's perfect for her. Kaito and Lilly can help paint it."

"She does look about the boys' age. Maybe a little younger than Sora; definitely not as old as Riku. But close."

_"She must be tired. She's been dazed like this since we found her."_

"She isn't sick, is she?"

"She doesn't have a fever. I think she's just exhausted."

_Cool hands found their way across her, and she was out of the stiff, wet clothes she'd been dressed in before, though she didn't fully wake until the next day. Mie took care of her, and Lilly fed her, and Kaito would sit down and color with her if she asked. They even brought their own children around to see her, nosy boys who got really close to her and asked all kinds of things that she couldn't remember. But it hardly bothered her, because they treated her with a reverence and it was nice to be pampered after feeling so neglected, floating alone in the ocean._

Kairi dreamed about those days when she ran barefoot through the sand, drinking cove water from her sandy hands, lying next to the boys, and wondered how she could ever be a Princess when all she could remember being was Kairi?

0----0

Ahoy, there be plot in these here waters, matey! Lol, I love saying that. Anyway, so the point of this story begins to come out. If you're confused then feel free to ask; there's a lot to process in this chapter. And I promise, this isn't a RikuOC. I swear. Carrah's role...well, she's major, but not in that way.

Anyway, I'm tired and I have work to do. But don't worry--it only gets better from here. ^^

One last note: anyone play FF6? It's my new second favorite in the series. Edgar is love.


	6. It's Always Back to You

Tendrils of drowsy darkness were eating at her as she forced her eyes wide. Carrah lurched up, woozy with shallow breaths, trying to blink away the truth that her dreams granted her. Dead, dead, dead, you should be dead, creatures hissed, you should be rotting maggot food. An abomination, a crime against nature, a poster-child for anti-magic conspirers. Her brother laughing, turning away, and she could see where his heart wasn't beating in her chest. Her dreams were hardly better than the present, when she herself whispered these things.

Her hair was never anything less than tousled, and dressing was a menial task that barely held her interest. She was _tired_. Why couldn't she just die already?

_Laughing, menacingly, inflicting ruin upon them all so that they'd be as empty as he already was, his sister prompting no spark of recollection, of remorse, in his eyes--he'd just as watch her burn at a stake, or being devoured heart first by the creatures he so lovingly nurtured._

She wouldn't leave this world until she knew, until she understood, where had Thaneor gone?

0----0

Riku was sure that the castle was pulsating with magic. His sleep had been deep and uneventful, and Sora's the same in the bed to the right of his, and if it wasn't for Kairi's sharp rapping on their door, it's likely that they would have slept straight through the day. But the violent sound had them awake in an instant, tensed and up, until Kairi's melodious threat about waking drifted through the grainy oak door. She forcibly twisted the knob and shoved, bursting in with no regards to their sleep. She was taking it upon herself to mother them, the role she dropped into like no other, and it suited the loving yet annoyed way she pouted at them, both still in bed, having dropped back down when they realized nothing was coming to steal their mortal soul.

"You two missed breakfast, you know, and you're lucky the King thought to save you some leftovers or you wouldn't have anything. We're set to go in an hour." Muttering to herself about how lazy bums come in pairs, Kairi shoved at both of them until their were cognizant and standing.

"Did you say something about breakfast, Kairi?" Sora yawned, stretching his arms above his head like a child. His hands dropped down to his empty stomach.

"I'll take you. C'mon." She turned to Riku. "Coming?"

"Yeah." Not that he'd mention it, but his stomach was aching just as much as Sora's. Kairi, like she'd been navigating the cheery castle corridors her whole life, led them down to the dining hall, empty but for the food piled on the table, a far from meager meal waiting for them. It brought back a pang of homesickness, for both of the boys, but they washed it down with juice and pastries and it didn't feel as bad. This wasn't turning out to be dangerous, or haunting, but a rather interesting vacation of sorts. They would help out Carrah, and the King, and return home. No harm done; there'd be another teary reception waiting for them, but it was likely that Kaito, Lilly, and Mie's eyes would glitter more with pride than tears.

"I talked to Carrah a little more this morning," Kairi mentioned off-handedly. "She wants to show us how her power works before actually taking us where we need to go."

Not the castle, not the kingdom, not my childhood, she silently prayed. Don't show me who I was, what I missed.

"It must be kind of cool. To be able to go anywhere, any time," Sora spoke up, in between swallowing big chunks of his biscuit. A small voice behind all of them was the answer, along with gentle footsteps.

"Actually, I just wish it would go away," Carrah admitted, looking forlornly between each of them. "I'm supposed to be dead. A Nobody, at least, but dead, even more. I have to know what my brother wanted out of all of this, before I can be at peace with all that happened."

"Why does it bother you so much?"

Carrah's gaze sank from Kairi to the floor, as she wrapped her arms about her waist. "A part of me doesn't want to believe it. Maybe he was tricked, or manipulated. I helped raise him, you know--yes, I'm only a few years older than him, but my parents were always so busy trying to get us by...how did we go wrong? Is it my fault, for not paying closer attention to him? Not seeing the demon that haunted his soul, made him believe that it was fine to torture, to kill? What justified the endless, meaningless slaughter? I have so many questions, and though the answers terrify me, I have to know. It's what tied me to this world, and it's what will lay me to rest."

"It's not your fault, you know," Kairi tried, but Carrah would have none of it. She dismissed the topic and continued to a new one.

"I just finished speaking with the King. He doesn't think that a...trial run, is such a bad idea. In about an hour, maybe? We're to meet in the library. I'll let you finish your breakfast now." With a head nod, she made to exit the room, but Kairi called after her,

"Are you okay? You look a little tired."

"I'm fine," came her curt reply, and she hurried out.

0----0

She was a freak of nature in her own regard, one of the only left of her kind, the damned. Sometimes, Carrah just wanted to die.

The greenery here was cause of marvel; for although she'd grown in Radiant Garden, her life had been far removed from the elegant blossoms that adorned the gated palace, and she'd never seen such a tranquility in nature, for by the time she got to see the endless expanse of flower fields, they'd been long withered and tainted. Sitting amongst the caricature-like shrubs, she could truly believe in peace.

It must be a marvelous thing to live like this, she thinks, whole and happy, surrounded by beauty. But self-pity is for those without a proper head, her mother always preached, for those who didn't realize that they had it better than at least one. She could have been turned from human into a monster, devouring every hope in her path, only to meet her end at the edge of a keyblade, one of which she hadn't seen yet, but could only imagine to deliver a jagged death. She could have been like her brother, too evil to have a conscious, and too far gone to see it. She could have just died.

Carrah could have been a lot of things.

The peaceful silence around her is interrupted by loud chatter and mirth, a merry group approaching. It makes her smile, but only a bit, for there could be nothing more peaceful than laughter, and she remembers playing in the streets with her brother, seeing how long they could balance a bottle filled with water on the crowns of their heads before it fell and shattered, soaking everything in its way.

She doesn't think they see her here, this group of five, and she's more than content enough to watch. Riku, Sora, Kairi, and two of the King's confidants, whom she'd briefly been acquainted with at her arrival.

"Why didn't you come see us?" One of them looked rather ticked, with the air of one trying not to show it. The duck...Donald, was it? Something like that.

"It was really late!" Sora tried to explain, looking to the other for help.

"Uh, Donald? I'm sure Sora wanted to come see us. Didn't ya, Sora?"

"Of course! But we met with the King, and then I fell asleep, and then--"

"Excuses!"

"But Donald!"

"I believe ya, Sora."

"Thanks, Goofy! See, _he_ believes me!"

Chuckling, Carrah stood. It'd been a long time since she'd been around those able to smile. No doubt, with the recent victory for the protagonists, people were grinning much, much more. Babies born into joyful families, people not afraid to fall in love, best friends being made...peace was a wonderful thing.

0----0

Much of this chapter was inspired by a song called Sand and Water. Look it up on youtube--it's beautiful. As you may have guessed, my chapter titles are all lines of songs that helped cultivate my muse into producing words.

A lot of things hindered this chapter--doctors appointments, Creative Writing assignments, filming of football games, McDonalds Monopoly, writing of novels...not that there's any excuse. But I'll try to do better.

Also, did you know they sell Cheese Balls with Nuts? That has be the best food ever. I'm just saying. *giggles like an immature preteen boy*


	7. You Try Until You Can

"Now, sit back and relax. That way you won't hit the floor once you finally lose it." King Mickey motioned each of them into a chair next to the one Carrah was already seated in, awaiting them. Riku, Sora, and Kairi did as he requested, but the feeling of what was to come could be a little nerve-wracking. Kairi could feel her own pulse spiking, though she was quite sure that Riku and Sora, and herself as well, had been in much more dangerous situations and that she was getting worked up over nothing.

"We won't be there long. I just want to show you what it will be like, as well as see if I can do it," Carrah commented, fingers digging into her leg anxiously. "I've never worked with so many..."

"It will be fine," Mickey assured her, extending it to reach them all. "Now, Carrah? Are you ready?"

"Yes," came her small reply, and her face contorted in concentration, as her wiry frame began to tremble. Suddenly, she slumped backwards, and seconds later, the rest of them were out as well. It was only a minor skip in vision, like one blinking, and they opened their eyes to cobblestone ways, people prancing and laughing about, a celebration in the streets. The group was invisible to the naked eye, as was obvious by the way people's sight slid from them, but you could see them look a bit confused afterward, as if they could feel something not quite right.

Riku, Sora, Kairi, and Carrah stood amongst the crowd in the middle of Radiant Garden.

"Hell, 'f 'ey can party, we can party, yeah?"

"What do you think Ansem the Wise will need them for?"

"I heard they started construction on a lab from my brother-in-law."

"Your brother-in-law is a drunk. Why would there be a secret lab?"

Voices swirled around them like dust motes, and somehow people managed to avoid stepping where they were, a flash of perplexity in their eyes for a brief instant, but which passed rather quickly. Riku turned to Carrah, whose eyes were trained up, on the castle looming overhead.

"What's going on here?"

"Ansem the Wise just unveiled his plan to take on several apprentices for research purposes. They threw a ball, lavish, elaborate, and the people always loved a good excuse to run wildly about the streets in celebration," she chuckled airily. "At the time, of course, we'd no idea what these apprentices would be used for. They were supposed to save us, to make our society a better place. But he was holding interviews, and I remember Thaneor trying to convince my father to let him go. But we needed him at home..." Realizing she was in the midst of a memory, Carrah broke off sharply.

"So why did you bring us here?" Sora asked.

"Because you must understand--when you think of this place, these people, you think nothing but evil. You think, how could anyone possibly have let this go on so long? How could the people be so naive? But here, as you see, the people practically worship Ansem, and any decision by him could do nothing but good. This was no one's fault...the apprentices were practically royalty the day they were appointed, and the lust of it got to be a little too much...at least, that's what I believe."

"So, can we take a look around?"

She shook her head. "As long as we stay this way, observing, we can't do any harm. But I'm afraid that it would be all too easy to interfere. Besides, this was supposed to be nothing but reconnaissance--the quicker we leave, the easier. Though, it's much harder to return than it is to get here."

"Why is that?" Riku asked her. He took a brief glance at Kairi, staring up at the castle with unreadable eyes, and watched Sora take a step closer to her.

"Because, as we're here, time is continuing forward. It's not too hard to pick a moment and go there, because the past is always stagnant. But to return to the present, which will be the past within seconds, you must be careful to pick the correct moment, or you'll end up seconds, even minutes behind. King Mickey theorizes that if you overshoot, it may be possible to end up the future, but I've no desire to try, and that only applies if you believe that all time is set in stone."

"Well let's go back then." Sora nudged Kairi. "C'mon," he said gently. We're leaving."

"I'm already getting tired of the scenery," Carrah muttered as people around them, continuing without a care, began to chant about Ansem the Wise and his mighty apprentices.

0----0

When they were next aware, it hit them like a jolt--so much that Sora almost fell out of his seat onto the cold floor. Kairi cracked him a little smile, and he almost wished that he had really fallen and maybe gotten a laugh out of her. She didn't seem to like looking at her once upon a home. Their chairs were close, he reached over and rubbed the velvet back of her hand, and her thumb stroked the length of his fingers.

Their little moment having gone unnoticed, Carrah was discussing the next stage of the plan with the King, Riku interjecting here and there. Something about how close to get...

"I _won't_ interfere. I've accepted his fate; Thaneor will stay as malicious and," Carrah choked on the next word, "_heartless_ as he's destined to become. You can trust me, I promise."

"It could be rather difficult--"

"Please. I've been waiting too long for this. I'll be careful." Her tawny eyes begged Mickey as she uneasily wrung her hands. "Besides, that's the only way we'll get the whole story."

"If you think it's best," the King resigned. "Head into the castle, and then the basement, and as soon as the heartless begin to appear, you _must leave_."

"Yes, of course." She bobbed her head. "Are the three of you ready to return?"

She watched each of them nod, in turn, and turned her face from them, flushing slightly as they watched her. _A castle...a town, a hall that she'd never even been able to picture in her dreams, a life of crystals and flowers, of plush carpets and heat. In the dinner hall, a rich wooden table, the elegant flow of the cloth covering it shivering as the people sitting around scooted their chairs in and out. One chair, the head, a King, and opposite him a hearty blonde man, his eyes twinkling with secrets. Around the table...young men, older men, six in number, adorned in the garments of scientists, laughing heartily but holding something back. The clink of cutlery against the delicate plates...this is the moment she grabbed, sinking her nails into it, fighting against the pull of time, and it was a typhoon, trying to rip her off. Within a second, they were there._

She watched Riku, Sora, and Kairi take it all in, the castle they'd known in ruins, the people they'd known as enemies. The King, that Kairi had never known as a father. Like pressing the unmute button, sound came on suddenly and brutally, but the smells of a lavish feast wafted to them in due time.

"I'm sure you know what we're watching," Carrah whispered, though there was no need for such a precaution, but she could hardly find her voice. "The King of Radiant Garden, Ansem the Wise, and the apprentices, at dinner on the night of the siege. Below us, there is a machine that will change _everything_."

"Have they already--"

"They're steeped, to be sure. But they haven't yet lost everything. And, of course, Ansem the Wise doesn't know the half of what they're up to. But I imagine that he has his suspicions."

Kairi's eyes were zeroed in on the elegant, handsome man before her, his regal air evident in his posture, in the way that he held himself. "He's my father?" she asked airily.

"He's the king," Carrah replied. "He hadn't an idea about what was happening," she added hastily. "He sent you away at the first sign of trouble, I gather, as the castle is where the festering began."

She reached out a shaky palm towards him, as lily white as a ghost, as his broad shoulders shook with laughter; Thaneor had a small smirk on his face, as if he'd told a joke that the king didn't understand. "What about my mother?"

"The Queen had been ill throughout my entire lifetime. She may have passed already, but I can't say for sure."

"The people are beginning to question your secrecy, Ansem. They wish to know what sort of science you're undertaking and I wish to know what I should tell them," the king commented, laying down his fork to cast a glance at each apprentice and then at the blonde.

"Tell them that our venture are soon to be medical. We hope to clean up the lower half of the town as well; they're outnumbering us, and won't be easy to ignore any longer."

"I remembering you mentioning something, er..." absentmindedly he swung his hand through the air, "about human nature, maybe? Hearts?"

Ansem's voice was thick, soaked with finality. "You're mistaken, M'lord."

"No, isn't that what that King wished to speak to you about--"

"We haven't done anything yet. And experiments on hearts are much too risky. One would need live subjects."

"Maybe I was wrong, then," he replied meekly, though he seemed almost certain he was not. It was evident who was really in charge here.

"You were. Thaneor--pass me that, please." He gestured at a dish, and with a smirk (growing steadily more pronounced and sly) and a, "Yes, Master," the conversation was closed.

0----0

Here's a fun fact: Carrah's name means 'beloved sister'. And I say 'Car-uh' rather than 'Care-uh.'

I realize that these chapters are slowly getting worse as they go--in my defense, when I first began writing, I was stuck in bed all summer, under the influence of heavy narcotics with nothing to do but listen to music and write. But I'm trying--I swear! Actually, I wrote the beginning of this sitting in the movie theater at 11:45 am, waiting for the première New Moon to start, which I got to see a second time because I found a ticket in the hallway of my school. ^^

So, I'd love to hear from you. Just so you know. Have a nice week, and Thanksgiving, in case I don't update before then.

Also, contest time, anyone who can guess all of the songs--title and artist--that each chapter's title comes from (from the first to this one) wins a oneshot from me, pretty much anything you want. Just cause that's kind of fun.


	8. The Shadow Overtakers

Kairi kept her gaze trained on a pair of troubled eyes, blue in color, that darted around the room like a small animal, trapped in a cage of snakes. _He knows what's going on_, she thought, _or at least that something isn't normal. Please, please, just confront them!_ But no matter how hard she silently pleaded for her father to change the course of history, she knew that it was futile. In a few hours things would change forever, and as a result, she'd never know him. _Please, please, please…_

The king continued to look nervous. No wonder; she herself was beginning to feel a little antsy, as ridiculous as it was. They couldn't know that she was there, nor were they going to hurt her. But there was something about being in this room, where the air felt to heavy to breathe, and stank something awful—Kairi looked over to see Riku, a slight grimace resting across his face, and she wondered if this is what darkness was like, if the concentration here was so strong that even _she _could smell it. There was something addicting in it, though; the air was taunting her to breathe in more, to get a better taste. She found herself powerless but to take a deep breath, and relish the wave of relief that was crashing upon her. It was nice, until she realized that her lungs were getting harder to fill, like she was drowning in it. Kairi had a sudden flashback to the nightmare she'd had, and took a deep, panicked breath.

A hand on her back broke the tension; Riku had been the only one to notice her small bout of hysteria, lasting no longer than a minute, she realized, and he seemed to understand in his silence. With a pang of realization, followed by one of pity, Kairi wondered if this is what he always felt; tantalizing darkness seducing his senses, only to realize afterwards that it was poison. Laying her head on his arm sufficed as a small thank you, and she turned her sights back on the small dinner scene playing out before them, which had captivated all of Sora and Carrah's attention. They hadn't seemed to notice the imbalance in the air.

"Ansem, did I tell you that two maids and a cook have gone missing? A curious thing; they seemed to have vanished in the night." The king cut slowly at his dinner, and watched his advisor carefully.

"May your tone be accusatory?"

"Well of course not; I just thought you might find it interesting. You see, one of the maids was last seen being accompanied by young Xehanort to your lab…"

Kairi didn't miss the looked shared between Ansem and his future namesake, and by the way her father's eyes hardened she was sure he didn't either. Xehanort regained composure quickly, and flushed, a foreign look. He resembled a child; it reminded Kairi of the time Sora had snuck into the neighbor's yard to pick her fruit from the tree and got caught.

"I can explain—"

Ansem the Wise interrupted with hearty chuckles, but they didn't reach his eyes. "I'm sure the boy was just trying to impress the lady. He's young, you said so yourself. I'm sure you remember how that was? Likely the young miss decided to take a few days from her work."

His tone screamed cover up, and Kairi's fists clenched of their own accord. These men were ruining everything right before her eyes…

"Right," the king replied tersely. "I'm afraid I'll have to cut this dinner short, gentleman."

"I'm sure Your Majesty has plenty of important things to attend to."

"Yes." He rose quietly from the table. "And, in the future, Xehanort, I'd appreciate if you turn your attentions away from my staff."

Thaneor's face widened into a cocky smirk. "Yes, sir."

_If I was Queen_, Kairi thought, _I'd punch him_.

0----0

The dinner party had quickly dispersed after that; Ansem left his Apprentices to their own devices, and they were soon to rise, but not before Xehanort.

He made his way around the table, leaning close to each of his peer, and whispering something to them. It wasn't until he found himself next to the man closest to the group huddling unnecessarily in the shadows that his secret was audible.

"Meet me at the heart of the castle within an hour. It's time to perform a few more…vigorous tests."

Apparently they hadn't tested themselves yet; they were unaware of how tightly the darkness gripped at their hearts, and moreover that the growing numbers of heartless festering beneath the castle were growing restless.

0----0

Following the Apprentices into the lab was tricky; the doors only stayed open for so long, and none of them had the lock code. But what lay inside was much more grandiose than the rooms left intact inside the bastion's ruins. The rooms built around the world's heart were spectacular, full of complex machinery and intricate experiments.

Of course, none of this meant anything to Carrah, whose attention was monopolized by her brother. He was barking instructions to the older men around him, who seemed to fear him the slightest bit, and she recalled how intense he could be when he was ordering people around. But this wasn't the baby brother who commanded her to give him the last slice of bread; this was the monster that was going to destroy an entire universe.

Her companions moved closer for a better view, and to hear him better, but she stayed back. There was too much wavering emotion warring to get the better of her, and it was a dizzy feeling, like she and her girlfriends had spent the better part of the day spinning and watching the cool grass fall up at them.

It would be too easy to stop him; all she needed to become a solid presence was to want it, to truly want it, and Carrah felt her heart ache for her childhood, to be next to her beloved baby brother, to slap his cheek and scold him like their mother. He wasn't being that bad, she reasoned with herself, and as long as he didn't go through with his plans for the night…

No. The part of this Xehanort that was her brother had been eaten away; eagerness replaced with zealousness, a thirst for knowledge replaced with ruthlessness, a sharp mind replaced with frightening intelligence. His body was nothing but a host, a way for evil to take a human form. He needed to do what he would, no matter the cataclysmic aftereffects, because those were the events that history decided to pen. Carrah tried to quell the twitching of her left hand, along with the desire to reach towards him. She would not change the past, she would not change the past, she would not change the past…that's what she'd been preaching to the children (or so she saw the three teens, younger than even her physical body, not to mention the years she'd resisted aging in Nobody form).

"Who wishes to go first?" She heard her brother, his voice filled with haughty righteousness, dressed with scraps of malice. He wouldn't be first, not him, the one giving the orders; no, he wasn't dumb. These men were just playing into his hands, just as their parents used to do when he'd manipulate them. He hadn't always been innocent, but he'd been a far cry from corrupt.

She wouldn't stop him from performing the first round of experiments, the catalyst to the entire universe's uprooting. She wouldn't. But that's not to say that she couldn't.

Carrah bit hard on the inside of her lip, wrapped her shaking arms around herself, and tried to remain motionless.

0----0

_Enlightening, isn't it_, sneered a cruel voice from within the depths of his head. Riku had become excellent at keeping a straight face, and the talent had served him well with Xehanort's heartless commenting from inside of him. He felt like someone was grasping roughly at his heart and squeezing, and the sensation of _it_ was almost too much to bear. He'd have to live the rest of his life like this, with this demon driving him mad. Every second he spent with his friends, a part of him (Riku couldn't deny it, nor could he change it) would be plotting their demise. It's a wonder he hadn't snapped already, and let the thing inside of his head out, out to wreak the havoc it planned, contriving obliteration while he tried to keep himself in check.

Another maddening part was that, if Riku had the vaguest desire to answer, he wouldn't even have to. He wouldn't have to think it, to say it, to form any sort of strange bond of communication with his mental parasite. Xehanort's heartless just knew what he was thinking, be it directed at him or otherwise. There were no secrets in his head, and rather than being embarrassed, Riku found himself outraged when Xehanort decided to poke malicious fun at his thoughts.

Sora and Kairi knew none of this. Neither did Mickey. Riku would keep this disturbing secret to himself.

Why the hell won't you leave me alone, he found himself wondering one day, addressing the anomaly himself, a rare occurrence. It laughed viciously, and Riku shuddered as it played with the tendrils of darkness nestled in his heart.

You're such an entertaining host, it mocked him, a maddening smirk embossed in it's tone. Strong, too, strong enough to keep me. That takes a special talent, my boy—you should be proud. Why move on when I can stay comfortably here, until the day that you die. It'll be a pity—I'll have to find a new pawn.

Out of the corner of his eye, Riku noticed Carrah's fidgeting. He also took note of Sora and Kairi's clasped hands, and he momentarily noticed if they themselves had realized it, as the later clung tight to the former's arm. He'd focus on these minor things, rather than the incessant rambling echoing in his psyche, or the scene playing out before him. Xehanort watched a heartless maul each of his colleagues, a sick smile playing out on his face, and pride reflecting within his eyes. He was sick of this 'mission' already, had felt oddly nauseous when they'd first arrived, and would have already left had it been up to him. Who the hell cared how all of this came to be? Mickey knew more than anyone already, and screw Carrah's little objective. He could tell her exactly what had become of her brother, who she sickingly seemed to worship, he could tell her how Thaneor's darkness was like acid to his sanity, burning it away at an alarmingly fast rate.

He stole an involuntary glance at the girl, who'd been looking frail since they'd began. Her spine was no longer hunched; she instead stood with pride, with a purpose, and her clenched fists were shaking at her sides. She looked determined, and for the first time since he'd met her, Riku thought she looked capable of actually doing something, instead of a mousy girl with no backbone. The first step that she took forward was hesitant, but soon she broke into a purposeful stride, which led to Sora and Kairi watching her too.

"Carrah, what are you doing?" Sora asked, reaching out to take her arm, but she shrugged away from his outstretched hand and continued on, closer and closer to where Xehanort was standing alone with a heartless. "Carrah?"

"This is wrong," she replied, jaw set like stone. "I…I can't let him…I…Thaneor!"

Her form rippled into existence, and a strange force echoed through the room; a sound, sensation, and sight all in one. Xehanort seemed not to notice it, though Carrah was a presence now, stealing towards him. She clenched in her hand a small, jagged knife; it was a small, flimsy thing, but with the right aim and force could knick a vital artery.

"Carrah! Don't!" Kairi cried, but of course she couldn't hear them now, and nor could they hope to stop her with no knowledge of how to force themselves into existence.

The wretch is going to kill me! It roared from within Riku's mind, and a momentary calm stole over him as he thought, well, at least something good will come of this. It let out an inhuman snarl, almost like an animal caught in a trap, and within that instant Riku felt his heart being lit ablaze. He gasped and clutched at his chest, falling gracelessly forward, unable to retain control of his leg muscles. The air was getting harder to breathe, though he'd long ago adjusted to the darkness tainting the atmosphere around him, and he couldn't even find the strength to close his eyes. Sora and Kairi had rushed to him, and didn't see the shapeless dark mass bulleting towards, Carrah, engulfing her within it's massless folds.

Riku felt lighter, though his heart was beating too fast, trying to adjust to it's new imbalance, and he still couldn't move a muscle. Sora and Kairi turned around just in time to see Xehanort's heartless rip Carrah's consciousness away.

The real Xehanort, whose back had been turned, and hunched over the heartless producing machine, remained oblivious as Carrah flickered out of his reality.

0----0

And we find ourselves a plot! Finally! Though, if you read the summary, you know that something had to change. I do believe that it will get easier to write after reaching the climax here. It's been hard because there's not enough information given about this part of the game to follow, and too much to just do it my way. So I've been walking a fine line. And if you guys didn't get that, Xehanort's heartless decided to possess Carrah, so that he could stop himself from being erased from history. It is my theory that he can do this at will, and reason that he could acquire Carrah much easier than he did Riku is because she's far weaker, and can hardly stand to fight back.

Being of the Christmas persuasion myself, I hope the rest of you had a pleasant one, but if babies born in mangers and fat men breaking into houses isn't your cup of tea, I just hope you had a happy holiday! I know I have, with the brand new Wii and HM: ToT! *is a Harvest Moon dork*

(So I finally get limitless internet access, a privilege never granted to me, and I open the laptop to get on, and the whole entire screen just pops off! Just like that! I'm not exaggerating. I must have been Hitler in a past life or something, cause karma's out to get me!)


	9. Soul Meets Body

Carrah turned to them, swaying and unsteady, as Xehanort's Heartless tried to get its bearings. There was an ominous aura, personified by a curious green light, flickering around her; the most obvious sign that something had taken up residence in her heart.

Riku could watch on with nothing more than horror as his whole body ached and struggled; he'd been so suddenly stripped of darkness he could do not but pant and try to quell the irregular hammering of his heart. There was nothing he could do to stop Carrah, not as he was, helpless on the floor, and he only hoped that Sora would have the sense enough to do it.

His keyblade seemed to have a danger sense of it's own, Sora thought, as it came to be in his grasp. It wouldn't take more than a firm smack to the side of the head to take Carrah down—Xehanort's Heartless or not, especially if it's control was still tentative—and so he prepared to swing his keyblade up and around. But before Sora had the time to charge forward, darkness began to build itself up from the ground, forming Shadows even beneath is feet. Sora leaped back in fear, as pools of darkness stained the room, and wildly swung his blade at one, gasping in shock as the metal just phased through it. Pausing and feeling something rise up the back of his throat, Sora began to question their chance of survival…

"Sora! It's just the Heartless taking over Hollow Bastion! Just get Carrah!"

Kairi's voice pulled him back, and it took seconds for all of the pieces to click together. They were still attending the fall of Radiant Garden; these Shadows hadn't any idea that they were even there. Xehanort's Heartless was the real threat, and Sora jumped forward, taking small peace in the sound of his blade whistling through the air. But Carrah moved back just in time, and ducked underneath Sora's arm, throwing off his center of gravity. Pushing himself up with one hand, he lunged for her, catching her in the side. The force knocked her over, giving Sora just enough time to leap atop her, pressing the blade to her chest cavity.

"Leave her alone!" he commanded, narrowing his eyes at the girl on the floor before him, though she wasn't the one that he addressed.

A mocking smirk came across Carrah's face, and the voice from her lips was only partially hers. "I stopped her from meddling. Isn't that what you wanted?" The accompanying laugh was a cruel one.

The blow to the side of Carrah's head was something that it hadn't expected. Riku stood unsteadily over it, glaring down at the girl's prostrate form. "We've got to get back, and that thing sure as hell isn't going to help us."

Xehanort's Heartless, believe it or not, knew when to keep quiet. It also knew that a battle against three Keyblade bearers (regardless of the fact that one was weak and another was a woman) wasn't a battle that it could win in this ex-Nobody's body.

"Can we get through to Carrah?" The Princess of Heart, _Kairi_, asked, looking down uneasily.

"She's completely aware," its ex-host spat. It had never actually seen the fire in Riku's eyes, and though it loathed admitting it, the look was actually fear inspiring.

The Princess made to kneel down, but Riku harshly grabbed her arm, though wobbled at the force of it. His Keyblade made a silent entrance, and would be fairly unnoticeable, were it not bearing down on the host's neck. "Don't think I won't," he growled, rather hoarsely, and let the Princess's arm go. With two Keyblades ready to strike, Ansem decided it might be best to remain motionless. For now.

"Carrah? Can you hear me? You have to fight it. We need to get back to the present, and _now_." The Princess laid a soft hand on the host's face, and Riku bristled in anxiety. Her voice was reaching, a hook by which to grab the host's attention and draw it out. Xehanort's Heartless felt her stir within her own mind, grasping wildly but unable to gain control. It felt the sharp metal blade against it's exposed neck, and decided that it would be unwise to laugh.

"You can do this, Carrah," were the Princess's final words of encouragement, and these seemed to do the trick. Carrah's heart lurched, shuddering and beating madly, as it tried to fight back against its intruder. Xehanort's Heartless gave a sharp cry—she was certainly trying hard; her blood burned like fire, and murky gasoline, pumping through her heart to try and drive it out. It tried to stand it's ground, but this was a battle it hadn't yet faced. Riku hadn't been able to regain himself after willingly turning his heart over, only wishing to after realizing the gravity of his mistakes, save one incident where he'd managed a few seconds of flickering control. But Carrah hadn't given permission, nor had she fully resigned control, and thus she had retained a small piece of herself, buried deep in her heart. She was waging war on herself, and in that split second, she was winning.

Xehanort's Heartless let out a scream of fury, which quickly echoed with pain; she was overtaking him, subduing him, only for a moment long enough to do as she planned. Time seemed to slip from beneath her and swirl before her eyes. Threads of existence were being spun, and with a careful knowledge, she knew exactly which one to pull. It shone bright gold, and she grabbed it, hard, and _pulled_ until the whole illusion unraveled and she jerked awake, catching only a glimpse of Disney Castle before the back of her skull cracked.

0----0

There is no reason this took so long, or that it's so short. I apologize.


End file.
